Getting files right for their destination.
WHAT THE COMMON FORMATS ARE
A lossy format for photographs A lossless format supporting transparency A modern format offering better compression A vector format for logos and illustration
WHAT LOSSY MEANS
Information discarded to reduce size.
WHAT REPEATED SAVING DOES
Degrades the image each time.
WHAT TO DO
Keep an original, and export copies.
WHAT TRANSPARENCY REQUIRES
A format supporting it, which the standard photographic one does not.
WHAT VECTOR FORMATS PROVIDE
Scaling to any size without loss.
WHERE THEY BELONG
Logos, icons and diagrams.
WHY THAT MATTERS
A logo saved as a photograph cannot be enlarged cleanly, and this causes endless trouble later.
WHAT TO ALWAYS KEEP
The vector original of any logo.
WHAT MODERN FORMATS PROVIDE
Substantially smaller files at the same quality.
WHAT THEY REQUIRE
Fallbacks, for older software.
WHAT SIZE TO EXPORT AT
Roughly twice the displayed size, for sharpness on dense screens.
WHY NOT MORE
It wastes bandwidth the viewer pays for.
WHAT MATTERS LOCALLY
Most viewers are on mobile data, so file size is a cost they bear.
WHAT TO TARGET
The smallest file that still looks right.
WHAT TO STRIP
Embedded location data, before publishing.
